IThe behind-the-scenes look at home decoration.

Hello everyone, today after a series of articles where I explained which product to use best or how to solve some problems, I realized that I never told you how to create a paint.

I used the verb “create” because that is exactly what we paint makers do, which is to “create” and transform.

Let me explain further.

All of us, in addition to our own experience, enlist the help of people who are experts in the field, that is, people with diplomas or degrees in chemistry who test and retest an endless series of raw materials proposed by the various manufacturing companies and then put them together to create a paint.

When I say endless I am not exaggerating, because the raw materials that make up a paint are truly many.

As a kid during my summers spent at my company I often wondered what all those bags, drums, etc., etc. that surrounded me were for, but then as time went on I became aware of their use and how it was not so easy to create a paint.

Today it is wonderful to rediscover the same wonder and curiosity that I had then, in people who come for the first time to visit my company and perhaps witness for a few moments a process.

That premise having been made, let us better understand what we are talking about.

First of all, before we create a painting we need to know what painting we need to create.

As I mentioned earlier the world of paints is vast.

Let’s pretend that today I want to create an interior paint that must have the following characteristics:

• A high resistance to washing
• A high resistance to abrasion
• And that once applied and dried, when I touch it, it feels like touching velvet.

Assuming that our laboratory technicians have already examined and selected all the raw materials is done all the necessary laboratory tests before putting a paint product on the market, let’s begin to produce our paint.

First, let’s say that the raw materials that make up a paint are water, resin and pigments, carbonates and additives.

In our case, since I want to get a very good paint, I have to use a resin and pigments such as calcium carbonates of high quality of high strength.

Most resins on the market, whether acrylic or vinyl are in liquid form, while pigments are almost exclusively in powder form.

In addition to water, resin and pigments, to create our paint we need additives, i.e., a cellulose powder that helps us achieve good dispersion of the pigments during processing, which we will see later, and when the product is finished, it allows us to have a good application without drips and runs, good dilatation and spreading that allows us to achieve excellent coverage and leveling on the wall.

An antifoam which we need to eliminate bubbles that form during processing and can persist even after finishing.

A wetting agent is a dispersant that will help us to wet and disperse the pigments, during the milling stage, so there is no risk of having clumps of unground pigments in the finished product.

An anti-mold additive that will defend our paint from the attack of bacteria that then turn into mold and bad odor.

Titanium, another key raw material if our paint will be white in color.

If, on the other hand, we want a colored paint we will use colors called pigments.

Since we are talking about a high-quality white paint we will use a titanium with high characteristics that will help in coverage and white point.

Calcium carbonates that in addition to helping the titanium in coverage give strength and durability to the finished product.

All of this will undergo the classic process called dispersion with special machines called Mixers.

The dispersion of pigments such as titanium and carbonates is essential to obtain a product with optimal properties.

Mixers are machines formed upstream by a motor with a speed controller, and downstream by an impeller (propeller) whose size varies according to the circumference of the tank (container) we use to produce our paint.

At the end of this process, before moving on to the packaging stage, there is the quality control stage, where an operator makes sure that the product meets all the pre-established characteristics.

Of course, what I have described is a summary of a much more complicated process.

Just to make it clear, for example, I cannot use plain water to produce a paint, but it must be examined and consequently purified if it is needed.

I hope, with this article, to have given, at least in part, an idea of how a paint is created and its processing steps.

See you in the next article.